‘Tennis-fatigued’ Vancouver gears up for Italy’s Davis Cup challenge

Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun03.22.2013

Milos Raonic will lead Canada against Italy in the next Davis Cup round, which will be played at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The UBC arena, which holds 6,214 spectators, was 95 to 98 per cent full for all three days of the previous competition against Spain.

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VANCOUVER — The Rosewood Hotel Georgia, a five-star boutique property, is among Canada’s most acclaimed luxury hotels. But Italy’s Davis Cup team has no interest in sampling its art deco details, twice-daily housekeeping and complimentary fresh-baked cookies at turn-down time.

The Rosewood was home base for Team Spain during its Davis Cup matches with Canada in early February, and the Italians, though masters of style, prefer to keep their distance from a Vancouver hostelry that may still contain some bad mojo.

Sergio Palmieri, director of Italy’s Davis Cup team, was in Vancouver last week to scope out preparations for the upcoming World Group tie at UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre “and was happy with everything he saw,” according to Tennis Canada tournament director Gavin Ziv.

Except for one detail.

“They (Italy) can chose any hotel they want,” Ziv explained. “They just don’t want to stay at the same hotel as Spain.”

How about a TraveLodge in Chilliwack?

Well, that’s not likely to happen either. Yet most of the other elements that determine a home-court advantage are under Canada’s control for the Davis Cup quarter-final, scheduled for April 5-7 at UBC.

Canada advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time with a 3-2 win over five-time champion Spain earlier this year and gets to pick the surface, balls and the venue for a possible repeat performance against Italy.

The UBC arena (capacity: 6,214) was 95-98 per cent full for all three days of competition against Spain. Indeed, Canadian tennis fans were unapologetically parochial, loud and supportive of the home side in keeping with one of the quirks of the Davis Cup, which make it distinctly different than the polite protocol of an ATP or WTA event.

“There was some consideration to going elsewhere,” Ziv explained.

“But from the perspective of the great support, the amazing fans and everything working out so well with Team Canada winning, the players were very comfortable about returning to Vancouver and doing the exact same thing. They love playing at UBC.”

With the curtain set to rise in less than two weeks, Ziv reports that advance ticket sales are about three-quarters sold for the Italy-Canada matches, and marketing efforts will be ramped up next week in an attempt to fill the building.

A mild case of “tennis fatigue” may have set in, Ziv suggests, with a pair of Davis Cup ties scheduled within two months of each other.

That was noticeable last September, at the Davis Cup tie between Canada and South Africa in Montreal, a competition which occurred after the Rogers Cup, a WTA event held just a month earlier at the same Uniprix Stadium.

“I think it’s natural to have ‘tennis fatigue,’ ” Ziv said. “People need to catch their breath. And this is something we anticipated, having been down this road before. I think that will change when the teams start arriving, the media coverage starts to pick up and people start getting excited as the event draws near. The last tie was history-making. To see us playing in the quarter-finals of the World Group is something that has never happened before. It’s going to pick up for sure.”

It could also be the last Davis Cup event held in these parts for some time.

D-Cup matches between Canada and France, in January 2012, were the first held in Vancouver in 20 years. The city, however, will have played host to three of the past four ties involving Canada, in a span of 15 months, once Canada-Italy is over.

Having four successive ties on home turf is, in itself, a charmed circumstance for Canada, since the host country for each round is determined by lot.

“We’ve been spoiled in Canada. And, in Vancouver, we’re extremely spoiled,” Ziv said. “You never know when this is going to occur again.

Our ladies, the Fed Cup team (the Federation Cup is the female equivalent of the Davis Cup), will have been on the road for five consecutive away ties by the time they play Ukraine (in a qualifying tournament in April).”

While acknowledging that Vancouver had been under-serviced in regard to major tennis competitions before, CEO Michael Downey stated that Tennis Canada’s mandate is to grow the sport nationally and not be regional in scope.

In blunter terms, don’t count on Vancouver becoming Canada’s permanent home for Davis Cup. If Canada should advance against Italy, the World Group semifinal will be played on the road, against the winner of Serbia-USA, in September.

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‘Tennis-fatigued’ Vancouver gears up for Italy’s Davis Cup challenge

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